ABSTRACT
The Ayamaru Plateau, surrounding the three connected Ayamaru Lakes, lies at c. 350 m above sea level in the centre of the Bird’s Head. Kria Cave and Toé Cave are located to the northeast and the southwest of the lakes, respectively, and contain overlapping occupation sequences from sub-modern times extending back to c. 26,000 BP, i.e. well before the Last Glacial Maximum. The abundant faunal remains and stone artefacts recovered from both sites provided an opportunity to document long-term environmental and settlement trends, as well as more detailed temporal and spatial patterns in human activity on the Ayamaru Plateau, particularly during the Holocene period.
